The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1887-06-01
a contribution of two cents a day from
each laborer employed. of Pioneer
Press
--"---'''-'aad - a D - laaaSzssuN----
The River Route.

In the Billings Gazette of May Goth APP
pears circular letter addressed EeTo the
merchants and stock growers of northern
Montana" and signed officially by A. IL.
Hersey, corresponding secretary, in which
is the following paragraph:
We desire Furthermore to call your at
tention to the disasters experienced the
past season BY those who were unfOrtu-
nate enough to have shipped by the So
called waterway of the Missouri river. The
facts are familiar to you all and need no
repetition on our part.
Speaking for the citizens of Fort Benton
the RIVER Press will not reply in kind to
che above. We will be charitable enough
to believe that our friends constituting the
Billings Board Of Trade, as a representa-
tive body, must have overlooked that par
agraph. We feel certain that in their So
ber deliberations they did not endorse any
such statement. They would not care to
come before the public in such an attitude.
No one can find fault with them for ad-
vertising the advantages of their own
Elections on their neighbors they step be-
yond the ordinary bounds of discretion
and business courtesy, and We cannot be-
lieve that they intended to do that.
The Fort Benton Board of Trade some
time ago sent circular letter throughout
the territory tributary to Benton, setting
forth the advantages of the river route,
and inviting buyers and shippers alike to
come to the river and take advantage of
the cheap rates it offers. They also ad-
yertised the advantages of Benton in one
of the leading dailies east. This energetic
action has apparently awakened some of
the railroad towns, and they are indulg-
ing in the refinement of flattery" by i'm
itating the laudable example sets by our
business men.
Since that circular letter was written
the wool rates by river have been issued
and comparison with those offered by
rail is all that is necessary to convince
anyone that the river route is still, as it
always has been, in the lead for low
rates. From Helenan, Big Timber and
Billings the Northern Pacific rate to Du-
luth is SLIGO per hundred pounds, whilst
from Benton by river and rail it is only
$125. The Manitoba has also stepped in
to the ring and offers already to receive
wool at Benton on POSSIBLY before) Sep
tember LIST, which it will haul all rail to
Duluth for $1.25.
Benton by the date named, September
1st, will have not only the river as an out
let but new railroad line that will afford
her every advantage that can be claimed
by any city on the Northern Pacific.
In conclusion it is only necessary to say
that last year was the most unfortunate
one that Montana ever experienced. The
drouth was continued and severe, and it
dried up springs and streams all over the
country that were never known to cease
flowing before. 1t, of course, affected the
river seriously, and caused long season
of low water. And yet the boats of the
Benton line landed at orr leYees and gave
our merchants cheaper rates than were
obtained by any other town in the terrific
ry, and carried out every pound of wool
that was brought to Benton. It is safe to
say that such another year of drouth will
not be experienced in this territory for an
hundred years to come. Benton can pro-
duce record of twenty-five years sue
cessful steamboat business. Long before
a railroad was west of Omaha the Missouri
river was Montana's highway over which
came the shipments of the territory.
When the railroads did come they had to
meet and respect the rates offered by that
great waterway; and but for it Montana
would be paying double and trebble her
present freight tariffs. But for the Mis-
souri, river, does any wool grower suppose
he could ship his wool by rail at the pres
ent rates?